Lightweight Jamie Kavanagh wins in Cancun

Lightweight Jamie Kavanagh (10-0-1, 5 KOs) racked up his 10th win as a professional when he knocked Jorge Ibarra (11-7-2) out in the second round of their fight at the Oasis Hotel Complex in Cancun last Saturday night.

With head trainer and co-manager Freddie Roach busy training Manny Pacquiao for his June 9 fight with Timothy Bradley, the Dubliner headed to Mexico with assistant trainer Sedano Ruiz and his other co-manager, Steven Feder.

The Irish Voice caught up with Feder on Memorial Day to get his take on Kavanagh’s performance.
“We were down in Mexico and we wanted to make a good impression. The goal was to take control from the first round and work behind the jab,” said Feder.

“Jamie knocked him down in the first (with a body shot) but the canvas was moist and they called it a slip. We urged him to keep going to the body and Jamie was working those shots well behind the jab.”

In the second round, Kavanagh took over and knocked Ibarra down for the first time with a right hand punch. Feder said that the tough Ibarra recovered and Kavanagh pounced again to knock him down again with another huge shot.

Ibarra somehow got to his feet after the second count, but a final barrage of shots was enough to end the fight.

“We worked on a few things in camp and they came off. A very important thing was for him to be aggressive from the beginning,” added Feder.

“He has such a great jab, and he walked him (Ibarra) down several times and cut off the ring.”

Feder went on to say that another huge plus from the night was when Kavanagh was trading on the inside that he didn’t get sloppy and did not lose control of the ring.

Kavanagh emerged from the fight unscathed, and the plan for the birthday boy (the fighter celebrated his 22nd birthday on Monday) is to have his first eight-rounder on the undercard of the Amir Khan/Danny Garcia fight on July 14 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

The Mexican fight fans got a shock when Kavanagh, who spent most of his teens in Malaga, took the microphone and addressed the crowd in fluent Spanish.

“Their heads were spinning, but the crowd was so welcoming. They were all applauding at the end and it is really good for him,” said Feder, who went on to say that it was an added bonus for Kavanagh to be able to build on his fan base with his linguistic skills, but that they also want to fight on the East Coast to reconnect with the Irish fan base on this side of the country.

Meanwhile, shortly after the Irish Voice went to press last Tuesday, light heavyweight Seanie Monaghan (13-0, 8 KOs) confirmed that he would be fighting Romaro Johnson (11-6-1, 6 KOs) for the WBC Continental Americas Belt on June 14 at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City.

The fight is scheduled for 10 rounds. Monaghan has been training hard with Jim Higgins for this assignment, and the hugely popular boxer will be hoping that his army of fans can help cheer him on to his first professional title win.

Tickets for the Broadway Boxing Card are available by calling DiBella Entertainment at 212-947-2577.

Finally, light welterweight Danny O'Connor (17-1, 5KOs) defeated Daniel Sostre (11-6-1, 4KOs) at the House of Blues in Boston last Thursday night when Sostre retired after four rounds.

“I just wanted to perform at top level and impress all of the fans who came out to support me,” said O'Connor after the fight, according to the Mildford Daily News.

“This is something you dream of when you’re a kid, with Boston sports. Boxing’s my sport, and I got to do something I’m passionate about in front of all these friends and family that came to support me and it really is a special feeling.”